Jim Miara and family moved to Needham 30 years ago, primarily because of the school system's stellar reputation. We were not disappointed. Kids have moved on, but Needham offers a little extra. Jim Miara is an award-winning journalist who has
...

Jim Miara and family moved to Needham 30 years ago, primarily because of the school system's stellar reputation. We were not disappointed. Kids have moved on, but Needham offers a little extra. Jim Miara is an award-winning journalist who has written for the Boston Globe, the Boston Herald, Banker&Tradesman, the Boston Business Journal and Urban Land Magazine.

The defending International League champion Pawtucket Red Sox closed out their 2013 home season Saturday night, after clinching first place in the IL North Division with a victory Friday. While a walk-off rbi-single from outfielder Justin Henry resulted in a 2-1 win over Syracuse on Friday, producing a huge celebration from a crowd of 10,000-plus that had come to see rehabbing BoSox righthander Clay Buchholz hurl the first 3.1 innings, that magic would not be repeated for Saturday's home finale.

Trailing 2-1 going into the last of the ninth, the PawSox got a leadoff single from Brock Holt, and then a one-out single from Ryan Lavarnway. When first baseman Mark Hamilton slashed a single to right field, Pawtucket manager Gary DiSarcina waved Holt around third base. But Chiefs right fielder Chris Rahl fielded the ball cleanly, and threw a perfect ball on one hop to catcher Kris Watts, who tagged out Holt with room to spare. That would pretty much wrap up the last home game, but the 9831 fans at McCoy Stadium couldn't have been too disappointed, with playoff action beginning next week.

Pawtucket finished their home campaign with a 40-31 record, and they stand at 78-63 as they departed for the regular season's final series, two games at Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania. Pawtucket has also compiled a 19-11 mark in August, rebounding from a horrid July that saw them struggle at 9-19. That July slump was the main reason the team, which had started the season strong, fell out of first place after July 28, and only regained the top spot on August 22. Even with last night's loss, the PawSox have won 17 of their last 21 games, a skein mostly attributable to pitching and defense. Going into last night, for instance, Pawtucket hitters were batting a paltry .222 in their last 13 games--yet the team had gone 11-2 over that stretch.

So you could surely understand DiSarcina sending Holt in that last inning, with offense so precious.

"I took a chance, sending Brock with one out there," said DiSarcina. "But with the grass wet like it was, you have to have the outfielder pick it up cleanly and then make the good throw, and I felt it was a good time to take that chance. They made a good play, and sometimes that's the way it goes."

Pawtucket had gotten 4.2 innings from starter Allen Webster, whose only mistake was a fifth inning home run to Chief third baseman Chris Marrero, but the young hurler, obtained in last year's mega-deal with the Dodgers, was yanked after just 67 pitches. Brock Huntzinger provided 2.1 innings of superb relief, with four strikeouts. But a nightmarish eighth inning from Brayan Villareal let it slip away, as Syracuse drew three walks, and added a hit to push across a run. Villareal was helped immensely by a doubleplay or the damage might've been worse, because even though his fastball was hitting 95 on the radar gun it was not hitting the strike zone very often. Villareal threw 27 pitches, only 11 of which were strikes.

"Taking Webster out was just an effort to keep his innings down," said DiSarcina. "We have the playoffs coming up, and there's no sense wearing him out."

"We haven't been swinging the bats well for the past five or six days," DiSarcina added. "We're going through a rough patch, no doubt, and I think some of the guys are just tired. That, and our opponents have been pitching well against us. We're not putting too many good swings on them, but we have been facing good pitching too. I'm not worried--I'm just going to try and gives guys a blow here and there, like we did with Jackie Bradley Jr. (who didn't play Saturday) tonight."

Pawtucket is going with its two knuckleballers Sunday and Monday in Lehigh Valley, with Steven Wright pitching Sunday and Charlie Haeger on Monday's matinee. That duo has been effective, but has also led to PawSox catchers setting a new club record for passed balls.

The IL Championship is the Governor's Cup, and the semifinals will open Wednesday with Pawtucket on the road at the wild card team's home. That could be either Norfolk,Virginia or Rochester, New York, with just a half-game separating those two at the moment. But either way, Pawtucket will return to McCoy Stadium Friday (Sept. 6) to host game three of the best-of-five series, with the Friday contest slated for 7:05 p.m. Saturday's game, if necessary, will be at 6:05 p.m., and the fifth game would be played Sunday afternoon at 1:05 p.m.

Tickets for PawSox playoff games are priced the same as regular season tickets, with box seats $12, and general admission $8, with kids under 12, $5. This is the third year in a row Pawtucket has qualified for the playoffs, after they won the IL North Division in 2011, and got in as the wild card last year.